Thursday, August 25, 2016

Bout of Books 17: Update 2

Bout of Books

It's only Thursday and I'm already exhausted. How did that happen? I used to be a lot more resilient than this. Rats.

I have actually managed to get some reading done, which is awesome. I am mildly disappointed to admit that none of it has been true leisure reading, which is a bummer. However, I have been lucky enough to read some interesting things.

I've read a chapter of American history regarding the years following Reconstruction and the shift to an industrialized nation. To be honest, that was the worst of the reading thus far. I'm interested in the subject material, but the book is not written very well. I'm mildly disappointed in my instructor's choice of texts. It seems to skim over a lot of material and not really provide anything of substance. Let's hope it improves with the semester.

My Asian history class had a much better set of reading materials. Interestingly enough, he started us off with a chapter excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success. It was a chapter about airline crashes and the influence of cultural norms on professional communication. I really enjoyed it. So much so that I have added Gladwell's book to my TBR.

My professor for that class seems like a really interesting guy. He even suggested a novel for me once he found that I am pursuing a degree in literature. Thus, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is also now a part of my TBR.

Finally, I spent last night diving into a chapter on the basics of psycholinguistics. I am incredibly interested in this field of study, specifically early childhood language development and most particularly in hearing impaired and mentally challenged children. Yes...I have a varying amount of academic interests. My learning will never be complete...

Amidst all of this brain busting reading, I've been breaking every 2-3 hours to feed my piglet, Pippa. She's a bit of a spitfire. Lots of energy. With any luck, she'll pull through. She's increased in her fluid intake and she seems to be putting on a bit of weight in her midsection, but she is still substantially smaller than her litter mates. I'm hoping that she does some catching up in the next few weeks. Right now, statistics put her at a 50% chance of survival. But...she's a fighter and I have high hopes for her.

And now...it's back to schoolwork. I have a lecture and a TED talk to complete for Asian history this evening and a short essay to prepare for American history on perceptions of the Old West versus the New West historians' take on that period of American expansion. I'm becoming thankful that I only took nine credits this semester even though I'm used to taking at least twelve. It may work out in my favor.

Until next time... Happy Reading!!

1 comment:

  1. Resilience you say? Just you wait a few years. I'm ready for a nap a few hours after I wake up in the morning. I often take 2 or 3 short naps a day. My reading takes a toll because I get so sleepy.

    These days I prefer reading non-fiction as long as it's well written. I like a good read about something that really happened or topics that get my mind stimulated. And if the book doesn't make me sleepy that's a big bonus.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    ReplyDelete

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